KuKuKawaii: Weekend Fun with Friends & Snow

This has been one of the funnest weekend I had this whole winter. It started with having the Nakamotos over for dinner on Saturday. Terry had wanted to expose her 2 girls to some Chinese New Years tradition, other than receiving lucky money, so we had them over for a belated Chinese New Year's dinner. However, our knowledge of cooking a traditional Chinese New Year meal is rather limited. The best that we could come up with was preparing some fresh rolls, filled with glass noodles (silver chain), golden needles (wealth), water chestnut (unity), Shitake Mushroom (longevity, sizing opportunities), and various assorted other ingredients.

After viewing a picture of some of the Chinese New Year's food that Dick's mom had prepared for us last week, Terry was good enough to fill me in on some of the food symbols I was not previously aware of, such as that a head of lettuce (saung choy) means to generate wealth, fresh fruits like tangerines (saung gwoh) means lively & energetic, and that whole fish must be presented in pairs to represent togetherness in being a couple.

Now that she piqued my interest, I searched the internet for more Chinese Food Symbolisms and I came across this link: http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/food_symbolism.htm

Dick also prepared one of my all-time favourite dishes, "Haw Loong Woo" (Shrimp with Lobster Sauce). It's a dish he had learned and perfected from his training as a cook at his parents' Chinese Restaurant (Shangri-La Gardens) in Orillia. It's considerd to be more of a Chinese Canadian dish, and it proved to be a big hit with the Nakamotos.

After dinner, the girls had fun playing Karaoke Revolution with Dick. Terry & Ian also joined in the fun later.

The next morning, while making some Pillsbury Crescent rolls for brunch, I decided to have some fun with it. Since we are in the Year of the Ox, I thought of making the pastry into a the shape of an Ox Head. It was quite easy to reshape it and it was fun to do.

Later in the afternoon, we had one of the most beautiful sunny and warm days so far this winter. I had been looking forward to this day ever since the first snowfall. A day when the temperature allowed for the snow to be perfect packing snow to build snow sculptures! So now, the Snow Sculpture Building Contest is on!!! I had challenged Connie over at Beaversatile to this contest and have been waiting very patiently for this very day. Unfortunately, Connie appears to be not feeling too well at this time, so I hope she will have another chance soon to submit her snow sculpture entry. If any of my Facebook friends would like to join in this contest, they are most welcome and we'll take a vote at the end of winter to see who wins.

Winter isn't my favourite season, but this is one of the few things I enjoy most about winter. Let the Contest begin!!!!

A platter full of Fresh Rolls